Education
(1) (a) What is the number of learners from Grades 1 to 12 who have dropped out of school in the province between 2014 and 2022 and (b) what is the breakdown per (i) municipality and (ii) education district;
(2) (a) what is the prevalence of school dropout in the rural regions of the province and (b)(i) what root causes have been identified for it and (ii) what measures has her Department put in place to address it?
(1) Schools are required to de-register a learner that has been absent without notice for more than 10 consecutive days. The school “exits” the learner on the CEMIS system and captures a reason where this is available. Reasons include learner transfer to a TVET college, transfer to another school in another province or to an independent school, and death. These reasons should not be considered “drop out”. Teenage pregnancy and rehabilitation for substance abuse may result in extended learner absenteeism, and the focus has been on driving consistency as regards how to capture and manage these extended absences.
The WCED tracks learner enrolments at school level across all sectors on the CEMIS system. Data is provided by schools as learners are registered and de-registered from that school. Reporting on declines in enrolment numbers typically focuses on Grades 1 to 11. The difference between the number of learners enrolled at the start of the school year and at the end of the school year before promotion and progression is captured in Annexure A. The reduction in learner numbers during this interval has decreased from 2.9% in 2014 to 2.2% in 2021.
- See Annexure A
- (i) Data is not available by municipality.
(ii) See Annexure A.
(2) (a) See Annexure A.
(b) (i) As noted in (1) above, the reasons for a learner deregistering from a school are varied.
(c) Retaining learners is a strategic priority of the WCED.
Schools follow up on learner absenteeism on a regular basis but the lack of parental support in some communities makes this a very difficult task. School Safety Fieldworkers in our districts continuously follow up on learner truancy, meeting parents and mediating between schools, parents and learners to ensure re-integration into schools.
Retaining learners across the grades involves several interventions:
- Providing support and remedial action for learners at risk of dropping out and following up with those who have stopped attending school to encourage them to return;
- Improving the system in the Foundation Phase –reading, writing and mathematics skills – so that learners progress comfortably and keep up with the curriculum (learners who do not read, write and calculate at the required levels are more susceptible to dropping out at a later stage);
- Identifying learners who would be more suited to a technical and vocational stream than an academic stream, and related to this, the expansion of learning opportunities in those fields;
- Supporting and encouraging pregnant learners both during and after their pregnancy, so that they do not drop out as a result of being pregnant; and
- Providing behavioural programmes, psychological support and seeking the assistance of social welfare and support networks for learners who are in homes that are not healthy and happy environments.
